Ex-Corrie villain who's happy to be all at sea

Owen Aaronovitch - brother of the newspaper columnist David - is coming to Manchester. But after his most famous role here, as Coronation Street villain Jon Lindsay, will he be welcome? The actor spoke to Conrad Astley .

OWEN Aaronovitch holds the dubious honour of having played one of Britain's top soap villains.

As Jon Lindsay, he was despised by Coronation Street viewers across the land and was responsible for the Free Deirdre Rachid campaign.

Smooth-talking Jon stepped into the soap, and into Deirdre's life, back in 1997, sweeping the divorcee off her feet at a Weatherfield singles night.

He was charming and intelligent, and claimed to be a long haul airline pilot.

But "captain Lindsay" was not all he seemed. His story about being a pilot turned out to be a sham and when Deirdre discovered he already had a wife and children, she got out as quickly as she could, but it was too late.

Jon had taken out credit in Deirdre's name and applied for a mortgage using false identity. When police came looking for the fraudster, the paper trail led to Deirdre.

Jon had planned his crimes meticulously, ensuring nothing could come back on him. And while he only received a suspended sentence, she had to spend time in jail for his fraud.

For some viewers, it was too much and the line between soap and reality became increasingly opaque.

Signs went up calling for "The Weatherfield One" to be freed, Granada's switchboards were jammed, and - sensing an early opportunity to prove he had his finger on the nation's pulse - newly elected Prime Minister Tony Blair promised to intervene.

But Owen, like other soap villains before him, was in fear of his life. Or so the papers said.

However, the actor doesn't remember it being quite so dramatic.

"The Granada publicity people got involved, the newspapers got involved, but it doesn't mean very much," he said.

"There was a story going around that my family had fled to Spain because of threats, but we'd planned to move there anyway.

"I never got any of that stuff, but the rumours did circulate. The worst I got was being hissed at in Marks And Spencer, but to me it was just a bit of good-natured fun."

Owen, who had coincidentally moved to the Spanish city of Granada, got on with his life.

But while the story might have been hyped up by television bosses eager to compete with the BBC's EastEnders, his role is still remembered and Lindsay was recently voted as one of viewers' favourite soap villains.

"It's been a curse as much of a blessing," he said.

"It's a weird thing, because when I look at it in the context of the other work I've done it's probably the least important in terms of the pleasure it's given me.

"If the financial rewards weren't there no actors would do it. The quality you get in the soaps is very variable because there's just so much of it. If we got paid more for it, actors would prefer to do theatre.

"I certainly enjoyed doing Coronation Street, but I don't know where I'd put it in terms of my career. I don't think actors really have careers - we tend to just go from job to job."

The latest job sees him return to Manchester as obsessed Captain Ahab in the Compass Theatre Company's production of Moby Dick.

The production, telling the story of a 19th century whaling ship and its fearless captain, has already been getting rave reviews around the country.

Herman Melville's swashbuckling tale is a million miles from the cobbles of Weatherfield, but Owen said he needed to draw on all his acting experience to bring the story into the 21st century.

"The difficulty for me is trying to be someone who is incredibly driven, without coming across as completely hammy," he said. "He's larger than life, he's a bit of an epic character, and he has to get madder as it goes on.

"The reason it's endured is because it's a marvellous story. It's not just about a man chasing a whale, he's trying to fight off mortality.

"It's a very clever adaptation, because it keeps the action moving while bringing out the deeper philosophical aspects of the story."